As I sit down to write this the snow is falling and wind blowing. I can’t help but think how perfect Macaroni and Cheese is for a day like today and I’m definitely tempted to make a change to our meal plan tonight.

Without any fontina on hand, I won’t be making this Fontina, Spinach, and Bacon Shells and Cheese, but I do have several other cheeses stashed in my refrigerator door and can easily whip up a new creation using these fun tips.

3 Steps to Fancy Mac n Cheese

It’s time to get creative in the kitchen. Try these three, simple ways towards creative macaroni and cheese recipes. Sure we all love the traditional recipe, but it’s fun to mix things up once in a while.

Use Different Pasta Shapes

Embrace your inner child, or appeal to your own children with fun and different pasta shapes. Just because it’s “Macaroni” and Cheese, doesn’t mean you have to actually use macaroni pasta. In fact, I rarely do. I love shells, rotini, penne, wagon wheels and more.

Fancy Up the Cheese

I love to experiment with different cheeses in my mac n cheese. Fontina is accented by Mascarpone and Parmesan Cheese creates a rich, velvety sauce in this recipe. You could dream up infinite cheese combinations for your sauce.

Add a Few Mix-Ins

Adding accent meats and vegetables turns macaroni and cheese into a delicious, one pot meal with lots of flavor and color. I like to add steamed broccoli or chopped baby spinach to my mac n cheese. My two favorite meat mix-ins are ham and bacon. They both go so well with cheesy sauce, but experiment with others as well.

I love the buttery and earthy flavor of fonitina cheese. It pairs deliciously with smoky applewood bacon and a bit of chopped baby spinach. I think you’ll agree that the ingredients in this Fontina, Spinach, and Bacon Shells and Cheese take your traditional shells and cheese to a whole new level.

Do you have a favorite non-traditional Macaroni and Cheese recipe? What is your favorite way to dress up this childhood classic recipe?

Directions:

Cook pasta one to two minutes less than package instructions. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, cut the bacon pieces in half vertically, then into small bite sized pieces. Cook until crispy. Then drain, and set aside.

In a large French or Dutch oven, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and cook over medium heat till golden. Slowly whisk in the milk while cooking over medium heat.

Stir in the mascarpone cheese, whisking until melted and creamy. Then, whisk in the fontina and parmesan until melted and creamy. Add the nutmeg, cayenne, black pepper, and salt (if desired). Bring to a slow simmer, and then stir in the pasta and spinach. Cook just until heated through

Serve immediately, sprinkling each portion with bacon.

This post was sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. They’ve collaborated with 30 different food bloggers to create 30 inventive recipes for the classic dish — Macaroni & Cheese.

About the Author:

Katie’s lifelong interest in cooking good food has shown her that part of the goodness in life is enjoying delicious food with friends and family.
She is: Mom. Writer. Photographer. Recipe Developer. Website Founder. Lover of all things good in life.
A mix of great recipes, family memories, and yummy photography is what Katie serves up each week at GoodLife Eats™. Katie and her family reside in Colorado.

My girls’ favorite mac-n-cheese recipe is from the New Moosewood Cookbook which I deconstruct. The recipe uses cottage cheese, and buttermilk. It also calls for mixing in sauteed cruciferous veggies with dill and garlic – I serve the veggies on the side.

In a fridge clean out lately, I took all the cheeses I found, shredded them, and put the mixture in the fridge. I add this cheese mix to quiche and to mac-n-cheese.

Fontina is one of my favorite cheeses to use. Although a close second is Gruyere. Here’s my favorite secret ingredient: shredded apples. I love the subtle sweetness it imparts to break up the cheese flavoring.

Just made this last night with my fiance. With the two of us at the wheel (one person for pasta, bacon, and cleaning up as we go and another for the sauce) we got done in 30 minutes. Mostly because I burned the first batch of bacon; otherwise I don’t think it would have taken as long. We loved it! Definitely making it again!

Thanks for the recipe. I made this tonight and my picky 2 year old and husband are gobbling it up. I used “transportation” shape pasta instead of shells – makes it fun for the little girl. Also, only had 2% milk on hand but it still tastes great. Yum, yum!

Made this tonight for my husband and I. Made it with skim milk since that’s what I had on hand, and it was still wonderfully creamy. I know I’m supposed to say the bacon was the best part (and it was awesome) but the spinach just went so well with the fontina, I loved it.

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Hello! I'm Katie Goodman, author of GoodLife Eats Etc. where I share what I find in my life. A mix of great recipes, family memories, adventures, good reads, and anything else that I love is what you will discover here.